this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the number of confirmed covid—19 cases globally climbs past 16 million. it brings this warning from the world health organisation. and the pandemic continues to accelerate. in the past six weeks, the total number of cases has roughly doubled. in brazil, one of the world's worst—affected countries, calls for the international criminal court to look at the government's handling of the crisis.

and remembering an icon. civil rights leader john lewis lies in state in the us capitol rotunda, the first black lawmaker to be honoured there. hello, welcome to bbc news. the number of coronavirus cases around the world are escalating at an alarmingly rapid rate, with the total approximately doubling in the past six weeks. the figure now stands at 16 million, with the last one million cases, taking just four days. in the past 2a hours, there have been more than 55,000 new infections in brazil, 53,000 in the united states and a8,000 in india.

here's what the director general of the world health 0rganisation had to say. almost 16 million cases have now been reported to who, and more than 640,000 deaths, and the pandemic continues to accelerate. in the past six weeks, the total number of cases has roughly doubled. in brazil, the pandemic is one of the world's most severe. health workers there have now urged the international criminal court to investigate president bolsonaro‘s government, accusing it of crimes against humanity over its handling of coronavirus. almost 2.5 million cases have been recorded since march, and more than 87,000 people have died. the pressure may be easing people have died. like sao paulo, but concern is now growing for smaller towns and cities in the country s interior, where healthcare services are more basic. 0ur south america correspondent

katy watson reports from campinas, a hundred kilometres from sao paulo. it's a virus on the move, heading to areas that have time on their side as they watched the big cities struggle. yet they too have found themselves unprepared. retirement homes have been badly hit by covid—19 in recent weeks, but this one is trying not to become another statistic. they've had to be creative about keeping their residents active and, so far, it's paid off — there haven't been any cases. translation: this situation is really worrying. it's been the worst month of the pandemic here in campinas, so we have doubled down on isolation. but it's exhausting. there comes a time when we can't get the disease take over. this horrific situation we are experiencing now. it was a while before the virus took hold here. in fact, authorities reopened shops thinking the worst was behind them but then hospital beds started

filling up, so they closed them again and doctors don't think the situation‘s going to get better any time soon. every bed in this intensive care unit in one of the city's public hospitals is occupied. and doctor marta is worn out. she likens her life to swimming. she wonders when they'll be able to come up for air. translation: people come here in denial. only when they find it hard to breathe do people start to believe that it's real and it's really sad to see people short of breath. it's distressing. that's when people start pleading, "doctor, don't let me die." fabio admits his family felt the same before his father salvatori died last month. eight members of the family contracted the virus in all. translation: it took everyone by surprise, even the timing of events. it was a week and then we were asking, where's our father, what happened? he went into hospital without any breaks in conditions and never returned.

back at the care home, they're all too aware of this silent killer and they‘ re offering a compromise for families desperate for a hug. elsa hasn't had a cuddle from her children for four months now. this is the hardest part of isolation for everyone. for daughter chris, it's everything. oh, that felt wonderful! it's been so long i cannot touch her, hug her, not even get close to her. this is the land of warm embraces, brazilians thrive on affection, so even the care home staff take advantage while they can. katy watson, bbc news, in campinas. as brazil battles the outbreak, the race for a vaccine is advancing in the us. a massive clinical trial got under way today — 30,000 people will receive doses of the vaccine, which was co—designed by the biotech company moderna and a division of the national institute of health.

doctor anthony fauci, who runs the institute, says results could be available by november. meanwhile, president trump, whose national security adviser has now tested positive for coronavirus, has been talking up the effort to find a vaccine. during a trip to north carolina, he had this to say. there's never been anything like this in terms of speed, nothing even close. a second vaccine is likely to enter phase three in a matter of days. under operation warp speed, we've shaved years off of the time that it takes to develop a vaccine. in some cases, many years. and we've done it well, maintaining the fda gold standard for safety. meanwhile, new research has shown that covid—19 really could be a seasonal illness, with its spread worse during dry winter conditions. research into this link was led by professor michael ward, an epidemiologist at the university of sydney, and hejoins us now from there.

your research focused on australia and in china.just your research focused on australia and in china. just tell us what you found and what conclusions will be drawn. we did research both in china and new south wales in australia. while he founded both situations, i have been northern had winter, we found where there was humidity, it seemed to be driving the cases in both situations. humidity seems to be important in the evolution of covid—19. we found temperature in china and that was in winter. very cold temperatures and in land areas. in australia, we didn't find temperature, we don't have really low temperatures. we think that relative humidity the mind with low

temperatures as well. why does humidity play such a strong part in this? from experiment studies, it's shown that when you have low humidity, the aerosols, the droplets in the aerosols when someone's infected with covid—19, they say suspended in the air much longer. so when the air is dry, they stay suspended. given the virus more chance to expose other people. it's really about the dryness of the air that promotes the transmission. what more should countries be doing? you're in winter now. we got europe and the northern hemisphere approaching autumn. what more can countries do? of course we can't change the climate, but it's worth it to be aware of those conditions. we do have infection in communities

and we're going into a period where we get these conditions where we need to be more vigilant, more testing needs to be done. it's awareness. awareness of those conditions that could lead to a massive transmission of covid—19. did you work out the sort of stats in terms of how much more dangerous the virus was with a drop in temperature was below with humidity? for every drop in 1% of relative humidity was equivalent to an increase of about 60%. in china, it was more like ten to 12% increase. it was quite a big... quite significant as temperatures fall and humidity. that's right, yes. quite large associations. thank you very

much indeed for going us here. —— joining us here. let s get some of the day s other news. israel says it fired on hezbollah militants who entered its territory. israel's prime minister called it a "serious security incident". it's alleged to have happened in the mount dov area which is part of the israeli—occupied syrian golan heights. a hezbollah statement said it had not engaged in any clashes and blamed a "nervous" enemy. the area has been tense since the death of a hezbollah fighter in syria several days ago. ukraine's military has claimed pro—russian separatists violated a ceasefire shortly after it officially came into force in the country's east. russia denies the accusation. presidents volodymyr zelenskiy and vladimir putin gave theirjoint support to the ceasefire during a telephone call on sunday. egypt has sentenced five young women to two years in prison for posting what the court called

"indecent videos" on tiktok. they've also received fines of thousands of dollars. this is all part of a campaign by the authorities against social media influencers, and primarily women. the women were accused of inciting "debauchery" and "immorality". spain's prime minister, pedro sanchez, has said britain's decision to impose a two—week quarantine on everyone arriving from spain was unjust. mr sanchez said british tourists were safer from the coronavirus in most regions of spain than they were at home. translation: i insist the area in myjudgement and lack of alignment of the united kingdom's responses based on considering the number of incidences in the entire country, because i insist the cases are into territories. in most of spain, the

incidence of the virus is very much inferior to even the numbers registered in the united kingdom. before we approach each other, let's try to find a balance where the british authorities based the decision on the increasing number of incidences. that is to say on the evolution of the epidemic in these territories, which are tourist destinations, which i insist are safe for british tourists. about 18 million britons visited spain last year, almost a quarter of all arrivals. spain is lobbying the uk to reconsider its decision but the uk government is concerned about a recent spike in cases in catalonia. gavin lee reports from barcelona. spain is fighting to save its tourism industry. this tree—lined boulevard in barcelona bears little resemblance to the hustle and bustle of summers gone by. sergio has been running his newsstand here for 20 years. he says even in extreme times, he has never seen it like this. translation: even the day

after the terror attack, there were 30 times more people than today. and now with the quarantine imposed again in britain, it's making a bad situation worse. further south down the coast, this town is a favourite destination with british tourists. it's been a life of cabarets for this club owner, who's lived here for 25 years. he normally employs 100 people. at the moment, it's just eight. yes, so, we normally have 200 people in here for the show every single night, twice a night. but at the moment, we've got nothing. we can't survive with this, it's an absolute nightmare. beers on the beach for helen and julie from wigan. they arrived on thursday on a holiday they'd spent months dreaming about. we've already lost a lot over the last three to four months being locked down, when i get home i'm going to have to quarantine for 14 days, nothing else i can do. the uk government is making it clear

it wishes british citizens weren't here right now, given spain's sudden jump in infection rate in recent days. officials here insist the virus is in hand, and the hope for a tourism industry worth millions is that it will soon be under control. gavin lee, bbc news, barcelona. the civil rights leaderjohn lewis is lying in state at the capitol rotunda in washington. he died ten days ago from pancreatic cancer. on sunday, the coffin of the activist turned congressman crossed the bridge in selma, alabama, where he was beaten by police when marching for civil rights in 1965. now his casket has made a final journey through the nation's capital. the bbc‘s laura trevelyan reports from washington. the hearse carrying john lewis passed by the monuments in washington today. a journey through the history of america and the civil rights movement. the procession paused

at the memorial for doctor martin luther king, mentor whojohn lewis marched with at selma and in washington. the symbol of today's activism for racial justice, black the symbol of today's activism for racialjustice, black lives matter plasma, another pause. it was in the john lewis made one of his final public appearances. then it was on to the capitol rotunda, with a man known as the conscience of congress because of his moral authority became the first black lawmaker to lie in state. members of both parties paid their respects and a poignant ceremony. the benediction was given by congressmanjames kleiman, a close friend and ally in the struggle for civil rights. lord grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change. from tonight, john lewis's often will be

moved to the capitol steps where a member of the public are already lining up to pay their respects. on thursday, the funeral of the civil rights icon to urge people to get into what he called it good trouble will be held in atlanta. laura trevelya n, will be held in atlanta. laura trevelyan, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: keeping the arts afloat in the age of social distancing — the waterborne pianist wowing audiences in france. the us space agency nasa has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk.

the last foot patrol in, once an everyday part of the soldiers lot, nine no more after almost four decades. if one is on one's own, not doing any harm to anyone, i don't see why all these people should wander in and say, "you're doing something wrong." six rare white line clubs on the prowl at worcestershire park six rare white lion cubs on the prowl at worcestershire park and already have been met with a roar of approval from visitors. they're lovely, yeah, really sweet. yeah, they were cute. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... global coronavirus cases have reached 16 million — and the infection rate is escalating. the world health organization says the pandemic is "easily the most severe" global health emergency ever declared

severe" global health emergency ever declared. health workers in brazil have urged the international criminal court to investigate president jair bolsonaro's government, accusing it of crimes against humanity over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. health officials in lebanon have recommended that a two—week lockdown should be imposed to counter a sharp rise in coronavirus infections. the recommendation comes a day after the top health official leading the country's treatment of the virus warned that lebanon was on the brink of losing control. martin patience has more from beirut. according to lebanon's health ministry, if the current rate of hospital admissions is maintained, this country will run out of hospital bed to treat covid—19 patients by the middle of next month. that's because of a spike in reits and affections. relatively speaking, —— recent infections.

lebanon has done well with the virus. since the start of the year, it had around 50 fatalities, but that now is all changing. beirut airport was reopened last month, and that has contributed to a rise in infections. with this country in a state of economic collapse, many officials are deeply concerned that lebanon could pass up on it early games. those early games could quickly unravel. in fact, the top official in the country who runs the hospital, the main hospital, dealing with the virus here, he has warned that lebanon may have won the battle but ultimately, it could end up losing the war against the coronavirus in the coming months. the president of the philippines has repeated his call for the return of the death penalty. he said he was

committed to killing drug offenders. he also defended his government's coronavirus policies with cases rising dramatically since the restrictions were eased. this was the fifth penultimate address. he started and finished today's speech by rambling against what he calls the oligarchs. he said he wants them to prove their operations by the end of the year. let's not forget a new operator is coming and backed by a supporter. he is bringing china telecom into the country at the moment. this is a month after the lopez family, who controlled abs cbn, they were denied a franchise

renewal. congressman said it was to do with them evading tax and also labour disputes within the company. others said this was to do with press freedom. today's speech at been billed as a platform to build an app and it —— stimulus package to kick—start the economy after ill effects of lockdown, one of the ha rd est effects of lockdown, one of the hardest and longest in the world. what we've seen here in manila, police officers in the reit enforcing strict lockdown measures. that's all the economy go it into the restriction, or session for the first time in 22 years —— in the area. also to lower corporate tax. he also used the speech to call for a return to of the death penalty. he urged lawmakers to bring about lethal injection for anyone in grant, involved in serial ‘s crimes,

including —— serious crimes including —— serious crimes including drug offences. the police have always said the drug suspects have always said the drug suspects have fought back, that's why they we re have fought back, that's why they were killed. when president duterte made the announcement, there was silence. he asked why they weren't clapping. they —— responded with a round of applause. in these times of covid—19, concerts and the arts have been struggling. but in france, one music tour group has started up again. reged ahmad reports. piano concert, but not as you may have seen it before. as the pianist plays, she's guided around this french lake. grazing cows look on at

the spectacle of a piano floating amidst the water lilies. this after concert is socially distant to protect against the coronavirus. as a arrive in masks and sit in small groups on the shore. —— as spectators arrive. they listen to classics by the likes of chopin, wc and prevailed, all set against the backdrop of this 18th—century french castle in the north of the country. when many indoor concerts with a live audience can't take place, this one is almost made for the times. translation: we told ourselves that this year, will really be a dead deer. we wouldn't be able to go on to her at all. -- wouldn't be able to go on to her at all. —— dead year. the government

announced a relaxation of mothers a month ago. so we said what do we do, do we go for it? —— relaxation of measures. the group take a gamble to go for it. these performances are centred around the specially made float that can take the weight of a piano and a couple of people to. translation: the idea was originally by of piano fanatic. one day, he paid to the beach and said, wow, wouldn't it be really cool at the piano went on the water? and he did it. it's not